RUSSELL - Power plant developers seeking to connect a private road from the plant site to Route 20 must meet strict state guidelines and are working with state Highway Department officials to gain permit approval.

Peter Bos, a Russell Biomass LLC developer and founder and chief executive officer of ARS Group, a company formed in 1982 to develop and own independent power plants, said the proposed private road would extend Frog Hollow Road, cross Turtle Mountain and connect to Route 20, a diversion required after the state Department of Utilities failed to approve the use of Main Street for truck traffic.

"They turned us down on that account only because they thought it would be a quality-of-life issue, and we suspected that from the beginning," said John Bos, Russell Biomass public information officer.

Even though the proposed route is a private road, developers must meet state guidelines in the construction of the connection point at Route 20, which is a state roadway. In building the three-quarter mile extension to the new, half-mile roadway, developers will replace and repave the entire road, Peter Boss said.

"We are coordinating with the Massachusetts Highway Department," he added. "We are meeting all standards."

Those standards, said Rebecca S. Sherer, Tighe and Bond project manager and lead engineer on the Russell Biomass plan, are in accordance with state and general engineering guidelines for a low-volume road.

Company officials have said during joint public hearings conducted by the town planning and zoning boards that approximately 240 truck trips per day will be made to and from the site of the proposed 50-megawatt, wood-burning, electric-generating plant on Frog Hollow Road.

The formal design, Sherer added, has not yet been completed, and a formal application for the road will be made once the design is complete.

"The road itself has been designed in accordance with the engineering manual used for truck traffic," Sherer said. "The intersection needs state input because it interfaces with Route 20."

Some requirements include a new curb cut and a clear line of sight, Peter Bos said.

Peter Bos said he is confident that sate will grant the request for the road connection.

"We knew we could get approval or we never would have proposed it," he noted.

Russell Biomass now has 15 of 30 town and state permits to construct the power plant and expects to have a total of 21 permits by March and another five by summer for a total of 26.

"The rest are minor ones that can wait until we start construction," Peter Bos said.